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More on GFC-500


rickseeman

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2 hours ago, rickseeman said:

I had my O in the avionics shop last week for other work and Garmin told him to disable my electric trim (not just pull the circuit breaker) until they come out with a fix for the GFC-500. Hopefully in a few weeks. :(

Why? its not a mandatory SB nor an AD. The runaway only occurs at engagement if it occurs and is stopped by the AP disengagement button. My installer straight up said to do nothing other then monitor the trim during engagement and wait for the software update.

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51 minutes ago, dzeleski said:

My installer straight up said to do nothing other then monitor the trim during engagement and wait for the software update.

This makes sense.  Personally I do not engage the autopilot until I am stable in climb and heading, and on top of any layers.  That way if it does any Crazy Ivans on engagement it is not a major distraction to shut it off and manually re-trim with the trim wheel. 

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My avionics shop had a required dealer webinar last week.  Apparently, Garmin told them that the fix will be in Q1 of next year, not this year.  Don't hold me to that.  It is just what I heard from my A&P/IA.  They also told my shop that they had to disable the trim.  On the service alert it states that "Before further flight one of the following actions must be completed: Disable the GFC500 Autopilot by pulling the circuit braker and placarding it inop or contact a Garmin dealer to disable the pitch trim"

My shop says they have to disable the pitch trim according to Garmin.  Oh well....

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1 hour ago, rickseeman said:

That's was my understanding also. I'm a little disappointed. 

I would have told them to put it back and not change things that are not mandatory but thats just me.

 

1 hour ago, Evan said:

What did they do to disable it? 

They disable the trim feature in the setup options. It basically disables the servo.

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56 minutes ago, ilovecornfields said:

My KFC225 says “trim in motion” if it has been on for more than a few seconds.

When the pitch servo in my KFC225 system failed and commanded full nose down trim, the system did calmly annunciate  “trim in motion.”   But I’d already noticed the significant pitch down, that’s for darn sure.  

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4 hours ago, ArtVandelay said:

It would be nice if there was an option to annunciate when the auto trim was operating.

I haven't tried it, but I think that if the trim runs away and creates a mistrim that you will get the TRIM UP or TRIM DOWN indication on the PFD.

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I haven't tried it, but I think that if the trim runs away and creates a mistrim that you will get the TRIM UP or TRIM DOWN indication on the PFD.

Good point. That is normal behavior for 2 axis installations without the electric trim when the AC gets out of trim.


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